The run away from home adventure

On Sunday, my buddy, MJ, and I gathered up our stitching tools, a little wine and some chocolate and hit the road for Charlottesville, VA. Our destination was a fabulous needlepoint shop called Threads (Hi Gretchen!) where we would take a two day class. Gretchen was a delightful hostess - providing lunches, snacks and lots of goodies to choose from in her shop. Several months ago, we signed up for a Tassel class that was being taught by Meredith Willett. In addition to being the owner of M's Canvashouse in Lexington, KY, she is the co-author of Knots, Fur and Turkey Work. Her co-author is Beth Robertson, who is also known for co-authoring Stitches for Effect, More Stitches for Effect and Even More Stitches for Effect with Suzanne Howren. We were lucky enough to have both of these lovely ladies in the shop with us. On Sunday, Meredith taught us the techniques for stitching all things knotted, furried or turkey worked. Beth busily scoured the thread selection for the perfect threads for our class on Monday. On Monday, Meredith taught us how to needlepoint a tassel. We had to decide on the shape of the head and the ruff of the tassel. We also had to decide if we wanted a two tiered skirt or one long or short skirt. We each had been asked to choose one skein of Watercolours. I chose one called Havana - which is a wonderful mix of purple, bright green and blue. Beth worked her magic and came up with 5 complimentary colors and textures. Her choices were incredible.

This is my tassel. I am very pleased with it. I still have to add another layer to the top of the head. I have to finish one or two more layers of threads and one or two more layers of metallic before the skirt is finished. Then I need to add the ruff right above the skirt. I haven't decided if I will use knots or beads or some other option for that yet. Once it is all stitched, then I will cut the bottom of the skirt to even it out and fluff it up. I will also probably add a background of some sort. I learned so much and had such a great time.

Thank you Gretchen, Meredith and Beth for a great two days. Thanks also to MJ for running away from home with me.

Where have I been?

I know - I know. I haven't posted to the blog in a while. My apologies. Work has been crazy and it has either been too late or I have been too tired to blog when I get home. My sweet hubby and I were out of town weekend before last.



AND



This past weekend I ran away from home.
It was delightful! I promise to tell you ALL about it tonight. I will even show you pictures of my adventure!!! Talk to you soon.

Better late than never

Last weekend I mentioned that MJ and I had made a road trip to Northern VA for threads for canvases in our stashes. I also mentioned that I would give you details later in the week. Seems like I lost track of time and another whole week has gone by without my doing that. Sorry. So here goes - better late than never.

You might remember Isabel the Witch that I worked on in a class back in March. I have not been a hundred percent happy with the thread suggestions that I was given in class. I've tried to be open minded but in the end, the colors and thread choices just weren't working for me. I picked out a new shiny pink for her shirt and a lovely, shiny shade of purple for the moon. I grabbed another couple of cards of fuzzy stuff for her cape. I, also, asked for suggestions for a new background color. They suggested a fun gray overdye and a darning pattern. I think it will be wonderful. Isabel will be back in the rotation here soon. Stay tuned.

I also picked up a handful of the new Vineyard wool. These threads will be used on several different canvases in my stash. Aren't the colors great?!

I guess the biggest news from the trip was this adorable tooth fairy pillow. My nephew and his wife announced to us a few months ago that they were having their first child. I've been searching for the perfect "something" to stitch for them. I finally found it last weekend. It is the cutest little pillow. I am changing the colors on it to blue and pink and green. This will be my next stitching project. I hope to start it in the next week or so.

And last but not least - an update on the crab canvas. I have about 3 inches of border left to stitch and then it will be finished. I am very pleased with the way it is turning out. I'll post a finished picture of it.

Crabby

I continue to work on the crab canvas. I have finished adding the extra stitching around the bottom half, and along the right side of the canvas. This extra border will give the finishers enough stitching to finish it properly without loosing my polka dot border. I've got the second half of the left side and the top to complete and then this baby is done. I haven't had alot of time this week to stitch but was glad to see that I made decent progress anyway. This canvas was originally painted to be a dog collar but I am going to have it made into a pillow. Since it is a long thin canvas, it will end up looking more like a bolster pillow than a traditional pillow. I can't wait to see what PFOS does with this one. I don't know if you can tell from the picture but all the crabs and dots are stitched with either a metallic or a sparkly thread. The whole thing just glows and twinkles.

MJ and I slugged our way up I95 through summer vacation travel traffic and pouring rain to visit Waste Knot in northern VA yesterday. We each took canvases from our stash so we could pull threads. We particularly were interested in the new Vineyard Wool. I've never stitched with it but it got rave reviews from folks in the shop. The colors are great and the feel of the wool is soft and lush. Not at all scratchy or itchy like traditional wools. I will give you all the details of our shopping trip in a later post. It was a wonderful day spent playing with threads, looking at new canvases and sharing a day with a buddy. We both came home with lots of enthusiasm for projects old and new.

Prior to heading north yesterday, I stopped in at my Farmer's Market. These are the flowers for this week. I got them from a new vendor who says she "just grows flowers in my pasture"!!! They were the most incredible flowers I have ever seen. I walked around and picked stems from several of her buckets. This is by NO means all the choices she had - just the ones that struck my fancy at 8:00 on a Saturday morning.

Happy Father's Day everyone.